The Winnipeg Jets announced that goaltender Connor Hellebuyck won both the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP and the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender Thursday.
Hellebuyck becomes the first American goaltender and eighth goalie overall to be named MVP. He’s also the first player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers franchise history to win the Hart.
The last goaltender to sweep both awards in one season was Carey Price in 2015.
The 32-year-old posted a .925 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average across 63 games this season. His 47-12-3 record led the Jets to their first Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team.
Hellebuyck became just the seventh goalie to record 45 or more wins in a season and the first since Braden Holtby in 2016.
This marks Hellebuyck’s second consecutive Vezina Trophy and third overall. He received 31 of 32 first-place votes from general managers.
No goaltender had won back-to-back Vezinas since Martin Brodeur in 2007 and 2008. Hellebuyck joins an exclusive group of just 13 netminders to win the award three times.
All but one goalie in that exclusive club are enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Since the league changed the Vezina voting process before the 1981-82 season, Hellebuyck joins Dominik Hasek (six), Brodeur (four), and Patrick Roy (three) as the only goalies to win at least three times. The award previously went to goaltenders with at least 25 games played on the team that allowed the fewest goals.
Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl and Tampa Bay Lightning winger Nikita Kucherov were the other Hart Trophy finalists.
Tampa Bay Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy and Los Angeles Kings netminder Darcy Kuemper were finalists for the Vezina Trophy.
